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Q&A: Moving the Music to a New Machine

We’re about to shut down our Dell desktop, on which we have our iTunes account. How do we transfer the iTunes account from the desktop PC to a Mac laptop?

A.

Moving your iTunes account from one computer to another is a lot easier than it used to be, as Apple now offers several options for transferring your entire iTunes library to a new machine. For example, you can move your iTunes folder between the Dell and the Mac by copying it to an external USB drive or recordable discs and then copying the files from the external drive or disc to the Mac’s Music folder. If you want to move the iTunes library to an external drive, Apple has a step-by-step guide for moving the iTunes Media folder on a Windows machine.

In iTunes 9 or later, you can use the built-in Home Sharing feature of the iTunes program to copy your library content between computers over your home network. You just need to use the same iTunes account name and password for all the computers involved in the transfer.

To turn on the Home Sharing feature for each computer’s copy of iTunes, click the Home Sharing icon in the left pane of iTunes window; if you don’t see the icon, go to the Advanced menu and choose Turn On Home Sharing. Follow the steps on screen to complete the Home Sharing setup process.

If you have an iPod, you can use the Transfer Purchases option under the File menu to copy content purchased from the iTunes Store to the Mac’s copy of iTunes when you have the iPod connected to the laptop. (This does not transfer home-ripped files or other content you got outside of the iTunes Store, although there are third-party programs that can tackle the job.)

If you plan to get rid the of Dell desktop (or not use it for playing iTunes content) you should deauthorize it from the iTunes Store after you’ve moved the library — but before you shut it down that one last time. Apple limits the use of many iTunes purchases to a total five computers per iTunes account, so you should take the Dell off the authorization list so it doesn’t prevent you from using other machines with your iTunes account when you reach the limit.

To deauthorize the computer, open iTunes, go to the Store menu and choose Deauthorize This Computer. Enter your iTunes account name and password to complete the process. To play iTunes Store content on the new Mac for the first time, you’ll need to authorize the laptop — on the Mac’s copy of iTunes, go to the Store menu, choose Authorize This Computer and type in your iTunes account name and password.

Now that you have the iTunes library relocated and authorized, you may to transfer other files from the old Dell. Apple has a page of general advice for moving your files from a PC to a Mac.

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